Re: Verses which need to be read in the Grk

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 31 1998 - 15:11:32 EST


<x-rich>At 9:41 AM +0000 12/31/98, Jim West wrote:

>But I would still maintain that every verse is enlivened by a
knowledge of

>Greek. I had a chap tell me last week that he knows as much about the
Bible

>by reading the King James as I will ever know reading the original

>languages. I suggested to him that our knowledge is greatly enhanced
when

>we read Greek. In fact, I suggested to him, if we use all the tools
at our

>disposal then we, with the use of each one, open the window a little
more on

>the world of the Bible. He protested that we did not gain anything at
all

>by using such tools and again reiterated his previous suggestion that
he

>knew everything because the King James made it clear to him. How can
one

>overcome such invincible ignorance? How can one open the eyes of one
so

>amazingly inattentive to the facts?

Jim: what would you say about the particularly edifying nature of
reading the following sentence in Greek--rather than in the KJV?

John 11:35 EDAKRUSEN hO IHSOUS.<underline>

</underline>I'll admit that I don't really disagree with your basic
proposition; it's just that one of my pet bug-a-boos is the unqualified
generalization. While I would say that a good deal of narration is made
very lively by a particular author's use of tenses and participles and
various sorts of subordination, I think that quite a bit of narrative
that is straightforward and simple doesn't do much to exploit any
distinctive tendencies in the original language and that
straightforward translation of such narrative into simple English
narrative brings over just about all there is to take note of.

Of course, real story-telling is far-removed from straightforward
narrative. I rather think, however, that the center of Johannine
proclamation is in the discourses rather than the narration, and that
is why, I think, Johannine narrative--as opposed to Johannine
discourses--(at least in chapters 1-12) is about as easy Greek prose as
one is likely to encounter, which is why it's a good text to start new
Greek students on.

Carl W. Conrad

Department of Classics/Washington University

One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018

Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649

cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us

WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

</x-rich>



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